Best way to get kids to use it, and other questions

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signal15
Posts: 5

Post by signal15 »

I just bought the learning pack and installed everything on an old laptop I had laying around, connected to a Roland electronic piano. I've been going through it and playing around with it, and I have a couple of questions:

- It appears the blue notes are for the left hand, and the green are for the right. On some of the songs, the blue notes are appearing to the right of the green ones (I think moonlight sonata or fur elise did this). Does this mean it wants you to cross your hands?
- Has anyone tried getting a 4 year old to use it? My 4 year old is intrigued by it, but I think he's having trouble making the connection between what's on the screen, and the physical keyboard. He seems to get frustrated and start guessing while asking me "this one?" Any pointers on getting a 4 year old to use it properly and stay interested?
- I see that others have made some additional learning packs. Are there any that are must haves? Are there any that are must haves for 4 year olds?

I've had this piano for years (bought off craigslist for $150 because it was so cheap) and just playing with Synthesia for a couple of hours has given me a ton of progress.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

signal15 wrote:Does this mean it wants you to cross your hands?
Yep. Those parts are hand-over-hand.
signal15 wrote:... I think he's having trouble making the connection between what's on the screen, and the physical keyboard.
There are a couple ways to remove the need for that connection altogether: with a lighted-key keyboard, Synthesia can light the keys themselves when it's time to hit them. That works best in melody practice where you've got the time to pay attention to those lights.

Another alternative that will be available very soon is Synthesia on the iPad. While you can still connect an external keyboard, should you choose to use the touchscreen keyboard, the falling notes effectively arrive just above your fingers. I wasn't convinced for a long time that it would be a good experience (the screen's size means you're limited to one hand that can't move much), but now that the iPad version is nearly finished and I've had a lot of time to mess around with the on-screen keyboard, removing the need for that mental connection altogether is a pretty big step.
Pianotehead
Posts: 325

Post by Pianotehead »

Is your piano 88 keys or smaller? If it's a full size 88 keys thing, any key pressed should cause the corresponding key on the virtual keyboard to turn grey. If the grey key is to the left of the green (or blue) note, you hit another key higher up your connected keyboard, otherwise lower down. If you get your kid to realize this, he or she should discover the system, before too long. It takes time for anybody, grown up or not, to develop speed. Insanely slow down if needed, as somebody put it.
signal15
Posts: 5

Post by signal15 »

Yep, it's an 88 key keyboard. Lights would certainly help, but mine doesn't have them, and I really don't feel like spending a bunch of money on one that does.

I think he'll make the connection soon enough. Are there any other song packs/learning packs that people have made that are a must have?
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

Maybe it would help to select a few songs with a small note range and put paper over most of the keys and just leave the 12 to 18 keys (maybe fewer?) needed to play those songs visible. Then set the range of the keyboard in Synthesia to match the visible keys. By having fewer, larger keys on the screen and the same fewer keys "highlighted" on the keyboard it might be easier to make the connection between them.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Pianotehead
Posts: 325

Post by Pianotehead »

That is probably helpful. There is a package that has been advertised on this website, but I've not tried it out and so I can not comment on it's quality. However there is a small amount of free preview material.

http://www.arturgajewski.com/piano/

I prefer to create my own MIDI files most of the time, because so many MIDIs are of poor quality, even some of those you pay for.
artur
Posts: 32

Post by artur »

Thank you Pianotehead for mentioning my piano lesson package.

Piano Lesson Package for Synthesia is a set of 60 lessons consisting of very basic stuff moving into scales, chords, inversions, voicing and some basic music theory.

For quite some time now I have included a Child's Piano Play package into the deal, which is a package of different games a parent can play with a child in order to get them familiar with piano, learn the keys, their names and basic melodies. All this is done with fun and interactive games and printable material to be used.

My kids fell in love with piano while playing these games and boy, did they learn the piano keys fast :)
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